


Painted Lady

by ThisIsNotADrill



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Death, Eggs, Genderfluid Character, Implied Sexual Content, Multi, Non-Explicit Sex, One-Sided Relationship, Slow Burn, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unhealthy Relationships, anise gets a lot of shit, because I love her, but they come up later, drill's fucked up her sleep schedule again, i have not yet completed the game, pairings will make sense in context, this is garbage, when do my works not have angst, written as a social experiment
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-15
Updated: 2015-07-15
Packaged: 2018-04-09 11:12:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4346384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisIsNotADrill/pseuds/ThisIsNotADrill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How can someone expect a happy ending from such things?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Painted Lady

**Author's Note:**

> I want to preface this by saying that it was originally written on my Quotev as a social experiment. Basically, I wanted to write the Madoka Magica of mary sue fics. Everything seems perfect, cliche, and kind of sue-ish. And then it all goes wrong...
> 
> I never got past the first chapter, but I figure I may as well post it here. 
> 
> Disclaimer: Anise Tatlin is the best character in Tales of the Abyss.

Jade found himself in a rut.

Yes, protecting Fon Master Ion was top priority for him. Yes, Anise provided good company. Yes, he technically had plenty to do... but the Tartarus got to be a familiar sight in a few weeks, and not in a good way. So when Anise proposed he try something new, he wasn't entirely apprehensive to the idea. What he didn't expect was Anise suggesting he teach a rank-and-file soldier Fonic arts. 

Jade would never have called himself a good teacher, nor would he have recommended himself to one of their own soldiers. But, the pigtailed girl had insisted on it. "Jade, the soldiers are kind of intimidated by you... I don't think good leaders use intimidation tactics." She'd pointed out, and he couldn't argue with that. Then again, he didn't consider himself that good a leader, either.

That's most of what he remembered about the day he met her. He'd been on the bridge, preparing for whoever Anise may have sent him, when the girl pushed a soldier in. The woman, or perhaps girl was more fitting, stumbled in with the grace one would expect from a two legged liger. Namely, none. She was tall and gangly, about a head shorter than Jade himself, with a messy mop of brown hair framing her pale and almost sickly looking face. She almost looked like a ghost, and not necessarily in a good way. The thing he remembered most, however, was her eyes. They were brown and warm, but most of all, they burned with diligence. "Colonel Curtiss." She greeted, giving a salute.

"At ease." He replied, biting the inside of his cheek idly. "And call me Jade. I'm not used to be referred to by my family name." At the soldier's frantic nod, Jade came to terms with what Anise had said of him. Intimidating, was he? Well, he should hope the title of Necromancer would be. Still, she was right about how leaders shouldn't be intimidating. If she was to be his pupil, he may as well try to be less intimidating, at least. "What's your name?" He asked.

"M... Margaret, sir. Margaret Laurel." She introduced herself, bowing her head once. Laurel, hm...? He couldn't recall ever hearing that name before. But recognition didn't really matter, here. What mattered was himself, Margaret, and how well she grasped Fonic artes.

"Very well, miss Laurel. Let's begin with the basics." He started, and began to take the young girl through the motions. Over the llesson, he noticed three things. One, she'd already studied in advance. Two, her problem had to do with executing the Artes themselves rather than not knowing how. Three, she stared at him when she thought he wasn't looking. Jade was no stranger to occasional infatuation towards him, and had mostly learned to just ignore it. However, this was different. She was his student... But, if she let infatuation get in the way of training, she'd regret it. And that's a lesson she'd have to learn herself.

However, he couldn't deny that her relatively quick grasp of artes was a bit more than he expected, however unstable it was. She was as gifted as any other soldier, since her quick grasp balanced out her clumsy usage. However, if she didn't know how to do it right, she shouldn't do it at all. "Try it again." He said shortly.

"Right...!" She replied, firmly planting her axe into the ground before trying again. Jade watched as cutting wind assaulted the dummy he had placed in front of her. He pushed up his glasses at the ruthless assault, and the small wind field below the dummy. "Now, try an Arte while standing in there." He commanded. Margaret responded with a nod, shyly stepping in and swinging her Axe downwards. The previous arte, seismic strike, got a boost in power due to the FOF, becoming a Gale Strike instead. Oh, dear, he'd need a new dummy.

With a sigh, the Colonel went to investigate the damage. A dummy lay in shambles on the floor under him, the wood having splintered around the floor. "Impressive. But you're unskilled. All you have is raw power, and no finesse." There was nothing insulting about his words. They were simply fact, they both knew that. "You'll have to keep trying."

She gulped, nodding at that. Even after the girl left, he felt something strange... But perhaps it was just Anise coming to call him.

Yes, that made sense to him. Anise often did call him for these things. With little more thought, the Necromancer left the bridge.

==

Scared as hell- That was the best word to describe Margaret as she left the bridge. Of what? She didn't know. Jade? Fonic artes? Both? Whatever it was, her heart was thudding in her chest at 90 miles per hour. God, she'd been so nervous that she couldn't stop staring at him the whole session for fear of missing a single word he said. Great first impression! She probably looked like a fool to him, the necromancer. "Hey!" A voice snapped her out of it, and she looked up to see a pigtailed girl running to her.

"Hey, Meg, how'd it go?" The pigtailed girl was, of course, Anise Tatlin, who slowed to a stop in front of the other. Meg... She hated that nickname, but what choice did she have other than to let the other call her that? Maybe it was better to let Anise call her as she pleased.

"It was the most nerve wracking experience of my life." She replied, frowning deeply. "I couldn't stop staring at him the entire time!" Anise raised one of her brows at this, causing Margaret to quickly remedy her words. "I thought I'd miss something if I didn't."

The guardian clicked her tongue at that, hands resting on the curve of her own hips. "Hm. I thought for sure he'd be less intimidating..."

"Not everyone is as brave as you!"

"It's not about being brave." Anise argued. "Do you really not trust Jade at all?"

"It's not like that..." Margaret frowned, wringing her spindly hands. "T-the entire time was full of him looking at me like I was a headless chicken! You know I get anxious about this sort of thing!"

"You can't afford to." Anise shook her head. "If we mess up, we might be going to war. You can't freeze up every time people stare at you out there."

"Isn't there an option to not mess up?"

"Ugh. You're hopeless sometimes." The younger girl gave a sigh, shrugging her shoulders. "We're doing our best. And hey, you have the potential to be pretty strong. Why not learn from the best?" Anise grinned.

"You're impossible..."


End file.
